IRA's end 'will cause pain and need bravery'

If there was ever going to be an end to the IRA there would have to be bravery and pain, the Taoiseach warned as he faced opposition accusations that the Government was negotiating a "secret dirty deal" with the IRA over the release of the men convicted of the killing of Det Garda Jerry McCabe.

The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, claimed that Mr Ahern had "lost the plot", and the Government had "callously broken their word to the Irish people and had betrayed the McCabe family".

But Mr Ahern insisted that any release would only be in the context of a full and final settlement.

He said: "If we ever want to get the end of the IRA, and that's what I want to do, then we're going to have to be brave, we're going to have to take some pain and we're going to have to get some gain."

Mr Ahern also insisted that because the issue was "of the utmost sensitivity we will do nothing without direct contact with Jerry McCabe's widow and with Ben O'Sullivan".

The opposition accused the Government of going back on earlier promises that there would be no early release under any circumstances for the IRA members convicted of the murder of Det Garda McCabe, who was shot dead during an post office van robbery in Adare, Co Limerick, in 1996, in which Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan was injured.

Mr Kenny said that while the Taoiseach had answered questions on the peace process on a monthly basis, he had never once mentioned this issue as one of the sticking points of the negotiations. He asked: "When did your Government abandon its solemn promise in putting this concession on the table, and can he confirm Gerry Adams's claim today that the release of these killers was part of the deal agreed last October which was halted at the last minute?"

Mr Ahern said the issue of the men's release had been consistently raised by Sinn Féin along with the question of how to handle those responsible for paramilitary violence and those still on the run, but neither was covered by the Belfast Agreement.

"These issues remain on the agenda, and Sinn Féin have made it clear that they are unable to convince the IRA leadership to take the necessary steps without the Castlerea prisoner situation being resolved," he added.

Fine Gael rejected this concession being put on the table by the Government. "It offends the very being of ordinary decent people throughout the land," said Mr Kenny.

The Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said the House had been scrupulous in its observance of a bipartisan approach and full support for the Taoiseach's efforts in respect of the situation in Northern Ireland.

But the murder of a serving member of the Garda Síochána was a step too far for most members of the House. It was a shock to the Irish people to discover that it was a pawn on the chess board in the context of a single act of completion last October.

Mr Ahern insisted that the consideration of the release of the Castlerea five would only be "in terms of the end of paramilitarism and the end of the final arrangement. It was not any interim position and only in the full completion on the ending of conflict."

He told the Dáil: "It is trying to end paramilitary violence and to bring a completion to what has almost ruined this country economically for a quarter of a century."